I had found some really great beef stew meat on sale at Whole Foods last week, so I spent all week trying to figure out what to make with it. I eventually decided on Jaime Oliver’s Beef, Guinness, and Cheese Pie because we have been largely eating vegetarian and healthy lately, so I was really craving something meaty, cheesy, and topped in puff pastry!

I had quickly glanced over the recipe in the morning to see how long it would take and whether I needed to start stewing the beef before I went on a job interview in the afternoon. I decided that this wasn’t necessary and that I had more than enough time when I got home to make the pie.

Fast forward to 6 pm when I start making the pie and notice that it takes 2 1/2 hours to braise the meat and then an additional 45 minutes after that to cook the pie. D’oh! Thankfully Carlo brought home a baguette and some cheese so we could have a snack while we waited for the pie to cook. Even though we ended up eating around 10 pm, the pie was excellent with a light crispy topping and a thick stewy filling. In fact, it even tasted good reheated last night and played its role as comfort food superbly after I learned that I didn’t get the job after all.

I highly recommend this pie as a tasty fall treat, but do yourself a favour and stew the meat during the afternoon before you make the pie, or even make the filling the night before. This Beef, Guinness, and Cheese Pie makes enough for 6 large dinners at $3.17 per serving.

Beef, Guinness, and Cheese Pie, adapted from Jaime Oliver
olive oil
3 medium red onions, peeled and chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 ounce butter
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
8 mushrooms, peeled and sliced
2 1/4 pounds stewing beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 can of Guinness
2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
6 ounces freshly grated aged Cheddar cheese
1 pound frozen puff pastry, defrosted (you could halve this if you want to lighten the dish a little)
1 large egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 375¬?F. In a large Dutch oven, heat up some olive oil over a low heat. Add the chopped onions and gently fry them for about 10 minutes without adding too much colour. Turn up the heat to medium, and add the garlic, butter, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. Mix everything together before stirring in the beef, rosemary,¬† salt, and pepper.

Let everything cook for a few minutes and pour in the Guinness. Stir in the flour and add just enough water to the pot so that all of the meat is covered. Bring the dish to a simmer, then put the cover on the pan and place it in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. After this initial cooking period, take out the pan and stir the stew. Then put the dish back in the oven for 1 additional hour, or until the meat is very tender.

If when you take the stew out of the oven after 2 1/2 hours of cooking the stew is quite liquid-y, place the pot on the stove and let the sauce reduce. Once the stew is at a nice thickness, stir in half of the grated cheese and season to taste.

Take both sheets of the defrosted puff pastry and roll them out together with a floured rolling pin on a dusted surface to form a sheet of pastry that will cover the top of your dish. Pour the stew into a large baking dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Roll the sheet of puff pastry over the top of the dish and fold the overhanging pastry around the dish to make a nice lid. Lightly criss-cross the pastry with a sharp knife and then brush the top with a beaten egg glaze.

Bake the pie on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked, and all puffy and golden.

This Jamie Oliver recipe for goulash isn’t really like any authentic Hungarian goulash that I have tasted, but the combination of all of the peppers and the smokiness of the paprika with melt-in-your-mouth tender pork make for a delicious dinner regardless. Plus your kitchen will smell incredible for the three hours that the goulash is transforming in your oven. This goulash recipe makes enough for 8 dinners at $3.06 per serving.

Spicy Pork and Chilli Pepper Goulash, adapted from Jaime Oliver
2-3 lbs pork roast or pork shoulder off the bone, in one piece, skin off, fat left on
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
2 generously heaped tablespoons mild smoked paprika
2 teaspoons ground caraway seeds
small bunch of fresh oregano, leaves picked
5 bell peppers, best if you use a mixture of red, green, and yellow
1 jar of roasted red peppers, drained, peeled and chopped
1 14-ounce can of plum tomatoes
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 pot of sour cream
zest and juice of 1 lemon
small bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350¬?F. This recipe calls for a deep, ovenproof dutch oven that you first heat up on the stove over a medium heat to brown the pork. I found my pork loin roast on sale at Whole Foods for $5.99 a pound, and it was a really nice piece of meat.

Score the fat on the pork roast in a criss-cross pattern all the way through to the meat and then season the pork generously with salt and pepper. Pour some olive oil into the dutch oven and let it heat up. Add the pork, fat side down, and cook it over a medium heat for about 15 minutes until the fat renders out and the pork forms a nice browned crust. Turn the pork over halfway through the cooking process so the other side can brown, and when it is finished, remove the pork from the dutch oven and set it aside.

Add the onions, chilli, paprika, caraway seeds, oregano, and a good pinch of salt and pepper to the pork drippings in the dutch oven. Turn the heat down and gently cook the mixture for 10 minutes, then add the sliced peppers, roasted peppers, and canned tomatoes.

Place the pork back into the pot in the middle of the peppers and then pour in enough water to just cover the meat. Add the vinegar to the pot, and bring everything to a boil on the stove top. Put the lid on top of the dutch oven, then place it in the preheated oven for 3 hours.

The meat is cooked when it is very tender and you can break it up easily when pulled apart with two forks. When the pork is cooked, remove the meat from the stew and shred it with a couple of forks. Place the shredded pork back into the goulash and dinner is almost ready to serve. Taste the goulash and season with extra salt and pepper as needed.

To make a nice condiment for the goulash, stir together the sour cream, lemon zest, and most of the parsley in a little bowl. Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice until you get a nice lemon-y taste.

Serve the goulash over cooked rice, and top each dish with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a big dollop of the lemon sour cream.

Salmon “Bulgogi” with Bok Choy and Mushrooms
For the Sauce:
1 garlic clove, peeled and diced
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine vinegar
1 3/4-inch cube peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon chili-garlic sauce

For the Rest of the Dish:
4 6-ounce center-cut skinless salmon fillets
1 garlic clove, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large bok choy, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips (about 7 cups)
4 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps sliced
toasted black or white sesame seeds

Whiz up all of the marinade ingredients in a food processor to get a nice paste. Arrange the salmon fillets in a glass baking dish, and then pour the marinade over the fish. Let the salmon marinate for at least 5 minutes, but as with most marinades, the longer you marinate it the better.

Preheat the oven to 500¬?F. Arrange the salmon, with some marinade still clinging on the fish, on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast the salmon until it is just opaque in the center, about 8 minutes.

Take the leftover marinade from the baking dish and put it in a small saucepan. Bring the marinade in the saucepan to a boil; and then set aside and reserve for the glaze.

Heat the oil in large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add in the bok choy, mushrooms, and minced garlic and stir fry until the mushrooms are tender and the bok choy is wilted, around 4 minutes. Once the veggies are cooked, season them to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve the dish, divide the veggies among each plate and top them with the salmon. Finish off the dinner by brushing the glaze over the salmon and sprinkling with some toasted sesame seeds.

Lasagna
For the Meat Sauce:
1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound spicy Italian sausage
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
42 ounces canned cans crushed tomatoes, 1 large can and 1 small can
salt and pepper

For the Lasagna:
10 lasagna noodles
12 ounces ricotta
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
12 ounces Mozzarella, grated

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium high heat. Brown the ground beef and sausage, and break up the meat with the back of a spoon. Stir in the onion and cook for 4 minutes. Then stir in the garlic, bay leaf, basil, and oregano. Add the wine, canned tomatoes, and carrot. Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium. Simmer the filling uncovered until the sauce has thickened, around 45 minutes. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare the lasagna noodles as instructed on the package, and drain. I prefer noodles that you have to cook over the no cook lasagna noodles because they just have a better texture and flavour.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, parsley, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, and then salt and pepper to taste.

Spread a quarter of the meat sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Lay 3 lasagna noodles down in the pan and spread half of the ricotta mixture on top. Sprinkle with some Mozzarella and then top with another quarter of the meat sauce. Repeat the procedure for one more layer ending with the last 4 noodles on top. Place the last bit of meat sauce on the noodles and then top with the remaining Mozzarella and 1/4 cup of Parmesan.

Bake the lasagna for 45 minutes or until bubbly at 375 degrees F. Remove from the oven and let the lasagna stand for 15 minutes. Letting it stand allows the lasagna to cool down and makes it much easier to cut and serve since each slice won’t fall apart.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I had on hand everything for this really filling salad, Summer Garden Salad with Chili-Garlic Shrimp, or pretty much everything since Carlo had to pick up a cucumber on his way home from school. All I can say is thank god for frozen shrimp! Thank you for letting me stay in my pjs all day This Shrimp Salad recipe feeds 6 people at $3.07 per serving.

I have been really craving seafood lately, especially shrimp and crab, so one day when I was at Whole Foods, I picked up a bag of their Whole Catch frozen shrimp. At $6.99 for a 16 oz package, it is a great deal, and the shrimp look and taste great once you defrost them. Plus they come in really handy when you need to throw some dinner together at the last minute because they defrost very quickly if you place them under running cold water.

Since I like things spicy, I added way more chili-garlic sauce to the shrimp than the recipe called for and just threw in a bit of extra ground cumin to balance it out. The marinade was perfect and ended up not being too spicy at all, so I would definitely use the chili-garlic sauce again for cooking any type of shrimp.

Marinate the shrimp in the fridge for an hour or so and then quickly saute them in a frying pan with a good glug of olive oil.

Since I was trying to only use ingredients that I had on hand, I ended up using frozen corn instead of fresh. I quickly boiled it and then cooled the drained corn in the fridge before mixing it with the tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and mint from the garden.

I took the basic vinaigrette dressing from the recipe of fresh lime juice, sesame oil and soy sauce, and jazzed it up with some grated garlic that I had on hand to compliment the shrimp.

I tossed all the vegetables and mint with a heavy dose of the dressing and then placed them over a bed of lettuce on each plate. Next came the shrimp on top, and I even added a hard boiled egg for some extra protein.

The verdict on the improvised whatever-we-had-in-the-fridge meal: Excellent, especially when eaten in pajamas! We will definitely be making this salad again this summer.

Start off by roasting your chiles. You can do this over the gas flame of your stove, but since it calls for 2 pounds of peppers, I think it’s a lot easier to do on the grill. Once they’ve blackened, put them in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, or put them in a bowl with a lid, and let them sit for 15-20 minutes to loosen the skins. Then take them out, scrape off the blackened skin, and remove the stems and seeds.

Then you toss the chopped chiles into a pot with a mess of other ingredients, and stew them to make your chile verde. This sauce could be used for lots of things — I’m tempted to use it on the avocado enchiladas some time.

Meanwhile, get your pork ready. The recipe says to simmer it in water with some spices and onions, then shred it. This is fine, but I think you could cook the pork pretty much however you wanted to, then get it into small pieces and cook it in the sauce, and things would be fine.

After the chile verde and the pork are done, mix them together and heat through for a bit.

Then serve with some chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and if you want, some cheese. Enjoy!

All of these recipes were published in the March/April issue of Clean Eating, and live up to the magazine’s (and Recession Recipes’s) mantra of consuming food in its most natural state, or as close as possible to it. Thankfully in addition to being good for you, these recipes also taste just plain delicious.

Salmon Roasted in Cilantro Salsa – Feeds 6 at $2.56 per serving
1 poblano pepper
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2 green onions, sliced
1 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon canola or olive oil
1/2 teaspoon seat salt
6 3-oz salmon fillets, skinned

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While you are waiting for the oven to heat up, roast the poblano pepper by laying it directly on a gas burner, beneath an oven broiler, or on a bbq grill. You want to roast the pepper until the skin blisters and turns black. I always love doing this because it feeds my inner pyro tendencies, but I get to be productive while burning things

Once the poblano pepper is totally charred, place it in a brown paper bag (I like using old grocery bags), and close it up so the pepper’s skin can loosen from the steam. Once it cools, take the pepper out of the bag and rub off the blackened skin under running water. Pat the pepper dry and then split it open and scrape out the seeds and interior ribs, and pull off the stem.

Cut the poblano into thin strips, and put them in a blender with the lime juice, onions, cilantro, oil, and salt. Whiz it all up until it becomes a puree. I like putting in a ton more cilantro and lime juice so the sauce gets really thick and smothers the salmon when it is cooked.

Place the salmon in a baking dish just large enough to fit the fillets. Pour the cilantro salsa from the blender over the salmon, and turn the fish to coat it on both sides. Bake the fish, uncovered, until the salmon is cooked–around 20 to 30 minutes–depending on how you like your fish cooked. I would start checking it around the 20 minute cooking point to see how it looks and then keep on checking every five minutes. It is kind of hard to over cook the salmon because of the salsa which helps keep things extra moist. To serve, spoon salsa from the pan over the top of each fillet of salmon.

Quinoa Sopa Seco – Feeds 6 people at 57 cents per serving
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup quinoa
Pinch sea salt
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup tomatoes, seeded and chopped (or halved cherry tomatoes)

In a medium saute pan with a lid, warm the oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and pepper and cook, stirring, until soft, for about 5 minutes. Add the oregano and garlic, and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the quinoa, then pour in 2 cups water and add the salt.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the liquid is absorbed and the grains show opaque lines around the edges, around 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the peas and tomatoes. Cover the pan again and let stand until the vegetables are warmed through, about 5 minutes. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Cucumber-Avocado Salsa - Serves 6 at 26 cents per serving
1/2 regular cucumber (not English), peeled and diced
1 medium avocado, skin removed, seeded and diced
1 lime, cut in half and seeds removed
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoon red or white onions, minced
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon cilantro leaves, chopped

Place the cucumber and avocado in a medium bowl; then squeeze the lime juice over the top. Add the oil, onion, salt, and cilantro and stir gently. Serve immediately. This guacamole tastes great as a topping for the fish, but I think it can hold its own to any guac recipe so I will definitely make it again to munch on with some tortilla chips.

Tah dah! The finished meal at $3.39 per serving. Delicious, healthy, and recession friendly for sure!

These tacos are great, can be made in about 20 minutes, and there’s some scope for savings in the recipe as well. It calls for 12 ounces of mahi-mahi for two servings, but in our experience, about a half pound of fish for two people is plenty. Also, I like to use something other than mahi-mahi because it’s not always a great choice from a sustainability perspective, but more so because you can use some other — much cheaper whitefish — with little effect on the overall taste of the tacos. I generally just see what’s on sale and go from there. This week, we found some dover sole on sale and paid $2.25 for almost 3/4 of a pound.

The recipe calls for blackening spice, so anything in this realm will work. You could even just do salt, pepper, and some cayenne or ancho chile powder. We used NoMU Smoky Peri-Peri Rub, and it worked well with the light fish. The original recipe says to grill the fish, but I usually just do it in a pan on the stove. Grilling fish filets can be a real pain — perhaps that’s why it calls for 12 ounces of mahi-mahi, to account for the bit that will stick to the grill or fall through the grate!

This mango and avocado salsa is incredible, especially when mangoes are in season like they are right now. You could make extra and put it on top of any kind of fish, or even some pork or chicken.

I also decided to make use of the kohlrabi Alex had bought at the farmers’ market. Instead of just shredding the cabbage to put on the tacos, I made a slaw by shredding the cabbage, then cutting the kohlrabi into matchsticks, then adding some chopped red chiles (I used Fresno peppers, a good mix of heat and flavor), chopped cilantro, and then finishing with salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil. This got a lot better with time, so if you can make it in advance, you’ll be better off.

We also had some black beans with the tacos, simmered in a saucepan with some garlic, onion, red and green pepper, lots of cumin and some chipotle flakes. I usually just do a roundup of the vegetables hanging around the kitchen when I make the beans, tossing in whatever’s leftover or looks good. If you want to get really fancy, toss in a can of Ro-tel diced tomatoes and green chilies. From my view, the only requirements are garlic, cumin and some sort of heat (I like the smoky flavor from the chipotle flakes), anything else is up to you.

The tacos with the mango-avocado salsa are great, so if you can find those ingredients on the cheap sometime, this can be a great cheap recipe. The Spicy Fish Taco recipe makes 2 servings (of three tacos each) and by buying the dover sole, it cost us $3.11 per serving. Add in the beans and/or the slaw, and it’s really filling as well. The slaw made 4 servings at 96 cents per serving, and the black beans cost only 47 cents per serving. All told, this cost us $4.54 per serving for a complete meal, and we had plenty of beans leftover (they’re great on toast with a fried egg on top for breakfast), along with lots of corn tortillas. Which, of course, means huevos rancheros are in our near future…